St. Landry democrat., 1887-02-19

ties and it may let you alone, pu' aA WIN
will live Cody in Jesus Christ must suHer
persecution. Be a theater-golng, card
playing, wine-drinking, round-danclng
Christian, and you may escape criticism
and social pressure; but be an up-and-
down and out-and-ovt follower of Christ,
and wording will wink 70 wording as no
speaks your name, and you will be put in
many a doggerel and snubbed by those not
worthy to black your oldest shoes.
When the bridge at Ashtabula broke and
let down most Of the carload of passengers
to instant death Mr.. P. P. Bliss was
seated on one side of the aisle of the car
writing down Christian song which he
was composing, and on the other side
group Of men were playing cards. Whose
landing place in eternity would you prefer
that of P P. Bliss, the Gospel singer, or
of the card players?
A great complaint comes from the the
aters about the. ladies' high hats, because
they obstruct the view of the stage, and
lady reporter asked me the other day what
! thought about it, and I told her that
if the indecent pictures of actresses in the
show windows of Brooklyn and New York
were accurate pictures of what goes on IN
many of the theaters night by night then it
would be well if the ladies' hats were
mile high, so as to completely obstruct the
vision.
If professed Christians 60 to such places
during the week no one will ever perse-
cute them for their religion, for they have
none, and they are the joke of bell. But
let them live consecrated and christian
life, and they will soon run against sneering
opposition For a compromise Christian
character, an easy time now, but for con-
secrated behavior, grimace and caricature.
For the body, thanks to the God Of free
| America, there are now no swords or fiery
| stakes, but for the souls of thousands OF
| the good, in figurat!ve sense, rack and
! gibbet and Toreuemada. The symbol OF
| the domestic and social and private and
| public suffering of a great multitude OF
Gods dear children, pillars Of smoke.
| But as we look over the story Of those
| who in all ages have suffered for the truth,
| while we leave vengeance to the LORD, let
us band together in one solemn VOW, one
tremendous oath, after having counted the
| host of the martyrs, that for each one OF
those glorious men and women who died
| for the truth, an immortal soul shall 1--we,
live with God and live forever.
| But, as I already hin ted in the first SEN
| tence of this sermon, nothing can be more
beautiful than the figures of smoke on
|
the contour of this volatile vapor, now
enchanted castles, now troops of horse
men, now hammered procession, now
winged couriers, now a black angel OF
| wrath under spear of the sunshine
turned to an angel of light, and now from
horizon to horizon the air is a picture gal
lery filled with masterpieces of which
God is the artist, morning clouds OF smoke
born in the sunrise, and evening clouds OF
smoke laid in the FURNISHED sepulchers OF
the sunset.
The beauty of the TRANSPORTED smoke is
divine symbol of the beauty of the church.
The fairest of all the fair is she. Do not
call those prosecutors of whom l spoke the
church. They are the parasites OF the
church, not the church itself. Her mission
is to cover the earth with a supernatural
glalness; to open all the prison doors; to
balsam all the wounds; to moss all the
graves; to burn up the night in the fire.
place of a great morning; to change iron
handouts into diamond wristlets; to turn
the whole race around, and, whereas il
faced death, commanding it: "Right abou,
face for Heaven" According to the num-
Der of spires of the churches in all our
ci les, towns and neighborhoods are the
good homes, the wealthy properties and
the pure morals and the happy souls.
Meet me at any depot the world over
and with my eyes closed take me by the
hand, and lead me so that my feet will not
stumble, and without my once looking
down, or looking to the level, take me tx
some high roof or tower, and let me see
the tops of the churches, and I will tel
you the proportion of suicides, OF arsons
of murders, of thefts. According as the
churches are numerous are the crime:
few; according as the churches are few
the crimes are numerous.
The most beautiful organization the
world ever saw or ever will see is the
much-maligned church, the friend OF al
good; the foe of all evil; flair as the moor
and clear as the sum- Beautiful in hel
Author; beautiful in her mission; the
heroine of the centuries; the bride o.
Christ; the queen of the nations. There
are hundreds of kindly institutions, some
caring for inebriates; some for the Grip
pied; some for the imbecile; some for the
misled: some for the blind; but the church
is the mother Of all these kindly institu
tons. There are asyIums-American or En-
glish, or Scotch, or Irish, or French, OF
German, or Italian-but the church spreads
her mantle over all these, and will ye
spread it over all nations. Her gates art
beautiful; her songs are beautiful; hel
prayers are beautiful; her convocation!
are beautiful; her work is beautiful. Al
Kings and warriors will yet bow down a
J her affairs; all chains Of serfdom be shat
tered against her doorstep; all nations will
yet follow her leading: How amiable ar
Thy tabernaclesl How sacred Thy affairs
How glorious Thy auditoriumsl So grace
full, SO aspiring, so grand and rolling OF
and rolling on, we cry out in regard to her
, "Who ID this that cometh out of the wilder
} ness like pillars of smoke1"
Men may desecrate it, as Cromwell dit
when he stabbed his cavalry horses in st
Paul's cathedral; or break off the mag
of Christ, as did the iconoclasts in York
minister; orhurl against it august Eterar.
| antipathies, as did Gibbon; or plot its over
throw, as do some in every communit.
whose pride and hate and debauchery ar
reproved by the ten commandments which
1t thunders, and the sermon on the noun
| (which hroathna Pl,f r. will ctand q